| Summary: | [suggestion] KWin as a VNC server | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Product: | [Plasma] kwin | Reporter: | RJVB <rjvbertin> |
| Component: | general | Assignee: | KWin default assignee <kwin-bugs-null> |
| Status: | RESOLVED INTENTIONAL | ||
| Severity: | wishlist | CC: | nate, simonandric5 |
| Priority: | NOR | ||
| Version First Reported In: | unspecified | ||
| Target Milestone: | --- | ||
| Platform: | Other | ||
| OS: | Linux | ||
| Latest Commit: | Version Fixed In: | ||
| Sentry Crash Report: | |||
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Description
RJVB
2017-12-21 22:40:42 UTC
KWin will not add vnc support for security and stability reasons. Due to that I'm setting to WONTFIX. But there is experimental code for adding a protocol which allows to write a vnc server. This might land for 5.13. Is there a better place to post these kind of wild ideas, where they might get *whelming reactions from the community? :)
I can't judge how unstable this might make the WM - hardly when done right I'd hope (possibly with the compositor turned off). I'd be more concerned about performance, but then this does not need to be something intended to allow *concurrent* access from multiple hosts.
FWIW, OS X has had a builtin remote desktop feature that's nothing but a VNC server, and it is in fact what inspired my suggestion. You have to enable it explicitly, and then set a password. I never got to try if multiple clients can connect, but as soon as a client connects a conspicuous icon appears in the menubar ("system tray"), with a menu under it that allows to disconnect the client in a click.
I highly doubt Apple would have left this option in the consumer version of their OS (i.e. not only in OS X Server) if the security risks were really severe. AFAIAC the security risks are only slightly higher than for the SSH server we all run -- once your IP is exposed.
Let's put it like that: it's rather unlikely that you will have an idea I haven't thought about years ago. How to do VNC is something I spent quite some time thinking about years ago. Here's one idea you clearly never got: how to avoid spewing insulting generalisations and other petty remarks ("I'll break it just because I can").
I have now been the maintainer of KWin for - I don't know - 6, 7 years. I don't remember a single case where a feature or idea was suggested which I hadn't thought about before. You can think it's a generalization or even arrogant, but that's how it is. For the specific topic on remote rendering I even blogged about it in 2015: https://blog.martin-graesslin.com/blog/2015/10/september-update-for-plasmas-wayland-porting/ Please also remember that this is a technical issue tracking, that English is not my native language and that I'm German which means I'm extremely direct. In that case, please remember that I'm Dutch so English is a second language and I am even more direct (or can be as over 30y in international exchange have taught me a minimum of restraint). |